passionate, very angry and always clear about that anger, beautifully written: at times feels like poetry, at times employs humour to turn the disgustpassionate, very angry and always clear about that anger, beautifully written: at times feels like poetry, at times employs humour to turn the disgusting racist arguments into idiocies only worth a laugh.
césaire talks about how colonialism bred facism and really, we shouldn't be surprised it spred across europe in the 1930s - we nurtured it while it was still convienient for us, while it was "simply" justifying our colonial crimes. he blaims the bourgeoisie, he blaims the intelectuals, the academics for their mental gymnastics in legitimizing colonialism....more
incredible study on white middle-class women’s feminist struggles, be it for slavery abolition, birth control (“voluntary motherhood”), women suffrageincredible study on white middle-class women’s feminist struggles, be it for slavery abolition, birth control (“voluntary motherhood”), women suffrage, and its ultimate failing into the traps of racism, elitism and capitalism. every time.
written with numerous examples, heavily relying on primary sources, it’s very eye-opening. intersectionality literally is key to our freedom....more
a weapon to be used for the revolution, and a love letter, truly
The pig is an instrument of neoslavery, to be hated and avoided; he is pushed to the fa weapon to be used for the revolution, and a love letter, truly
The pig is an instrument of neoslavery, to be hated and avoided; he is pushed to the front by the men who exercise the unnatural right over property. You’ve heard the patronizing shit about the thin blue line that protects property and the owners of property. The pigs are not protecting you, your home, and its contents. Recall they never found the TV set you lost in that burglary. They’re protecting the unnatural right of a few men to own the means of all of our subsistence. The pig is protecting the right of a few private individuals to own public property!! The pig is merely the gun, the tool, a mentally inanimate utensil. It is necessary to destroy the gun, but destroying the gun and sparing the hand that holds it will forever relegate us to a defensive action, hold our revolution in the doldrums, ultimately defeat us. The animal that holds the gun, that has loosed the pig of war on us, is a bitter-ender, an intractable, gluttonous vulture who must eat at our hearts to live. Midas-motivated, never satisfied, everything he touches will turn into shit! Slaying the shitty pig will have absolutely no healing effect at all, if we leave this vulture to touch someone else. Spare the hand that holds the gun and it will simply fashion another.
you can clearly see his growth over time, the first letters to his family are so simple in comparison to the later ones to his lawyers - basically essays, really. and then his love letters! so intimate and delicate.
(in the first half or so there's quite a few sexist jump-scares, but he outgrew those as well, probably thanks to meeting more amazing women.)...more
haunting and unbearable. and to think, i'm only experiencing those barbarisms as images on my computer screenhaunting and unbearable. and to think, i'm only experiencing those barbarisms as images on my computer screen...more
any sane person with a conscience knows about the nakba by now. but it's one thing to know that in 1948 the israeli forces expelled over 750,000 palesany sane person with a conscience knows about the nakba by now. but it's one thing to know that in 1948 the israeli forces expelled over 750,000 palestinians from their ancestral homes, and it's another altogether to read in detail just how they went about it, from village to village, executing, expelling, sexually abusing, humiliating.
where i'm from, we learn a lot about the nazi atrocious crimes against jewish, slavic & romani people. we read memoirs, poetry, historical accounts. i remember reading gruesome stories at a way too early an age, that stayed with me till this day. so to say it's absolutely sickening to now read about jews committing a lot of the same barbaric crimes just mere years after the holocaust, is an understatement of my life.
this book is based in a huge part on idf's reports, israeli court cases against its soldiers, diaries of ben-gurion - don't you dare come here and tell me those are all lies.
if this collection of essays & photographs doesn’t radicalise you, i don’t know what possibly might. seeing the silly smiles of palestinians captured if this collection of essays & photographs doesn’t radicalise you, i don’t know what possibly might. seeing the silly smiles of palestinians captured on film at the beginning of the 20th century? unparalleled....more
rep: butch lesbian mc & side character, sapphic li tw: drug use, underage drinking, internalised homophobia
sublime! the writing is gorgeous, makes the rep: butch lesbian mc & side character, sapphic li tw: drug use, underage drinking, internalised homophobia
sublime! the writing is gorgeous, makes the atmosphere almost palpable; somehow it's simultaneously claustrophobic & freeing. you know how it's gonna end, it can only end one way, but you're still on the edge of your seat - and nothing even really happens.
makes me think of the awakening by kate chopin, with the way the women reach for the things that make them burn inside. (and, for obvious reasons, of olivia by dorothy strachey, but an adult, more brazen version.)
all the talk about butchness is absolutely delicious, too. ...more
when hannah kent said "thea, if love were a thing, it would be the sinew of a hand stretched in anticipation of grasping. see, my hands, they reach fowhen hannah kent said "thea, if love were a thing, it would be the sinew of a hand stretched in anticipation of grasping. see, my hands, they reach for you. my heart is a hand reaching", and when mary oliver said "you too can be carved anew by the details of your devotions", and when richard siken said "my dragonfly, my black-eyed fire, the knives in the kitchen are singing for blood, but we are the crossroads, my little outlaw, and this is the map of my heart, the landscape after cruelty which is, of course, a garden, which is a tenderness"
the writing in this is absolutely gorgeous; it's delicate, yet powerful. stunning. just as the main character is. we get to see edna finally start herthe writing in this is absolutely gorgeous; it's delicate, yet powerful. stunning. just as the main character is. we get to see edna finally start her life, fulfil her own wishes, yearn for & taste love. she says at one point that she would not give up her essentials for her kids: that she'd give her life for them, but not the essentials. and she doesn't, she puts herself first, even at the last moment. i don't see the ending as a punishment, a precaution for other women; rather: as edna not finding any other way for her to exist in the society such as it was (and still mostly is). she's still the one to make the choice....more
rep: lesbian mc, sapphic li, side polyam relationship, side sapphic characters
reads like a fairy tale, like a legend, and the most delicious kind at trep: lesbian mc, sapphic li, side polyam relationship, side sapphic characters
reads like a fairy tale, like a legend, and the most delicious kind at that. full of characters who change their minds, who grow as people. and most interestingly with a lesbian heroine who's the mightest of them all & no one really holds it against her....more
rep: biracial Indian Scottish gay mc with depression and anxiety, bi mc, Black trans side character, nonbinary side character, Indian Scottish side chrep: biracial Indian Scottish gay mc with depression and anxiety, bi mc, Black trans side character, nonbinary side character, Indian Scottish side characters TW: alcoholism, past drug use, past suicide, suicidal ideation
fellas is it gay to just want to keep another boy safe, and maybe cuddle...more